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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor in exchange for food and stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens from aid shelters, an international human rights group said Thursday. London-based Amnesty International also said authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to crack down on the problem weeks ago. "Unless human rights safeguards are observed, tens of thousands of people remain at risk," Amnesty said in a report released Thursday. "Respect for human rights must be at the center of the relief effort." More than a...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A U.S. warship delivering aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar and its escort vessels will leave international waters near the country on Thursday. The departure of USS Essex on orders of the Pentagon follows the refusal of the military rulers of Myanmar to allow U.S. helicopters to airlift relief supplies to people in the Irrawaddy Delta region, which was hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis last month. According to a statemenf from Admiral Timothy J. Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Myanmar rejected the U.S. Navy's 15 requests for permission to fly the relief goods into...

Myanmar cyclone: Burma's junta turns away US aid ships By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent Last Updated: 1:46PM BST 04/06/2008 Four American navy ships, laden with relief supplies, are steaming away from the Burmese coast because the military junta will not allow them to help starving cyclone victims. On board the boats were 22 urgently needed heavy-lift helicopters, amphibious vehicles and water purification equipment. The Burmese regime claimed that, far from wanting to help the 2.5 million survivors of last month’s cyclone, the US was in fact intent on stealing the country’s oil resources. "I am both saddened and...

A top U.S. military commander says American navy ships off Myanmar's coast will leave the area after failing to get the junta's permission to help with cyclone relief efforts. Adm. Timothy Keating says that he wants the USS Essex and accompanying vessels to resume their previously scheduled duties on Thursday. The ships were in the region for international exercises. Keating made them available to help with relief efforts for last month's cyclone and they were deployed near Myanmar in case they obtained permission to enter the country's waters. But Myanmar allowed only limited U.S. military aid flights to the country,...

Americans are hearing so much these days about how bad we are that we're starting to believe it. In a recent Gallup Poll, 68 percent said they are "dissatisfied with the position of the United States in the world today," and 55 percent said they think that the rest of the world views us unfavorably. However, as I page through a publication called the Index of Global Philanthropy, which is produced annually by the Center for Global Prosperity at the Hudson Institute in Washington, it becomes obvious that these American feelings of self-deprecation are misguided. This is the just released...

I just login in Free Republic once and posted some information about the earthquake in China. I have never thought I can get reply from American peoples. Although we are from different nations, and do not know each other,please let me say thanks to you. Now, all Chinese are do everthing we can do to help our sisters and brothers in the earthquake area. We will do a good job to save lives and rebulid our beautiful country.

The United States has reached a deal with North Korea to provide 500,000 tons of food aid over the coming year to the isolated communist nation. The U.S. administration says the aid has little to do with its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with North Korea, a nation President George W. Bush once included as part of a rhetorical ``axis of evil.'' ``We don't see any connection,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was quoted as saying. ``We're doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and...

Myanmar cyclone: Burma junta may be prosecuted over aid block By Philip Sherwell in New York Last Updated: 6:17PM BST 17/05/2008 Burma's ruling generals could be threatened with prosecution for crimes against humanity as a last resort to pressure them to allow an international relief operation to reach desperate cyclone survivors. A boy looks out onto his devastated village near Yangon, Burma "The strategy is to raise the bar for the consequences of not allowing humanitarian intervention by introducing the threat of prosecution for crimes against humanity," said a senior US health expert involved in the discussions. "The goal is...

Burma cyclone: Burmese officials selling emergency aid supplies in local markets By Alan Brown in Yangonpauk Last Updated: 7:24PM BST 12/05/2008 Officials in Burma's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy delta area are appropriating emergency aid supplies and selling them in local markets, it was claimed on Monday. Burmese officials have been accused of selling aid supplies Burmese volunteers who are operating their own private aid missions to the area have said that they are having to hide from local apparatchiks in order to prevent them commandeering their aid and selling it on at markets. The Daily Telegraph learned of the alleged scam from...

YANGON, Myanmar - The United States delivered its first relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday, as the U.N. urged the reclusive nation to open its doors to foreign experts who can help up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation. Snip Britain's opposition leader called for air-dropping aid if Myanmar's military government remains adamant. Snip The U.S. military C-130 cargo plane, packed with 14 tons of supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon, capping prolonged negotiations to persuade Myanmar's military government to accept U.S. help. Snip Though international assistance has...

UN says 102,000 dead in Burma Thailand offers to be a base for relief supplies Thailand will act as a mediator to help with the movement of international relief supplies to Burma, which are being held up by the military junta and are stuck in Thailand, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said yesterday. The move comes as the UN says up to 102,000 people could have been killed by Cyclone Nargis and about 220,000 are reported missing. Mr Noppadon said he planned to leave for Burma tomorrow to push for additional assistance and ask the Burmese generals to provide wider access...

A Red Cross boat delivering supplies to help 1,000 victims of last weekend's cyclone sank Sunday when it hit debris in the Irrawaddy Delta region, as the U.S. prepared to deliver relief supplies to Myanmar. "The crew managed to get to the safety of an island, along with four Red Cross staff who were on the boat," Red Cross official Joe Lowry said. "But we've lost most of the cargo."

Teams of aid experts allowed into the cyclone-ravaged Irrawady delta have returned to Thailand with the bleakest of warnings: Burma is on the brink of a “devastating public health crisis” compounded by an emerging refugee disaster. But for the hundreds of aid workers who have flown into Bangkok from around the world, the chances of a sudden glut of the precious entry visas appeared slimmer by the hour. Rumours have begun circulating between international aid organisations that the Burmese regime is preparing to close its doors altogether: a decision, warned UN-affiliated aid workers, that will cost the lives of thousands.

WASHINGTON -- As Myanmar's aid crisis deepens, the Bush administration is facing criticism that its denunciations of the military regime may have contributed to its resistance to allowing foreign aid workers to enter the storm-ravaged country.

"People have just one set of clothes; some are even wearing jute bags. There is not enough drinking water. There are no sanitation facilities whatsoever. Many people have wounds that are not being attended. The estimated number of people in these 26 camps is 100,000." Sheri Villarosa, the senior US diplomat in Burma, said she feared the death toll could reach 100,000. But despite the obvious suffering, massive devastation and pressing need for urgent action, the Burmese authorities were continuing to insist yesterday that everything was under control. On the front page of the New Light of Myanmar – a...

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Authorities in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar have seized United Nations aid intended for victims of the disaster, a move that "shuts down" future flights from the organization, according to a U.N. World Food Program official. A child sleeps on the floor as cyclone-affected families shelter in a school in western Yangon. 1 of 3more photos » The organization, which insists on distributing its own relief supplies, said the seizure of two aircraft-loads of food, medcine and equipment, has already hit out at Myanmar's refusal to all access to foreign eis workers. "This is another example of them actively...

With United States warships and air force planes at the ready, and over 1 million of Myanmar's citizens left bedraggled, homeless and susceptible to water-borne diseases by Cyclone Nagris, the natural disaster presents an opportunity in crisis for the US. A unilateral - and potentially United Nations-approved - US military intervention in the name of humanitarianism could easily turn the tide against the impoverished country's unpopular military leaders, and simultaneously rehabilitate the legacy of lame-duck US President George W Bush's controversial pre-emptive military policies. Myanmar's ruling junta has responded woefully to the cyclone disaster, costing more human lives than would...

There’s a remarkable article in the current Time magazine by Bob Geldof, musician and activist, regarding a recent trip he made to Africa with President George W. Bush. Geldof, a liberal, disagrees with Bush on many things, especially Iraq. Geldof is also fair. He has observed what Bush has done in Africa, particularly on AIDS, and is enormously grateful for the president’s truly unprecedented actions. To cite just one example: in 2003, only 50,000 Africans were on HIV antiretroviral drugs; today, thanks to American relief, 1.3 million receive free medicine. In an illuminating article, there are, however, two items Geldof...

Hurricane season is just around the corner, so Americans should know where to turn to if disaster strikes. It's not the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A new study suggests Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's would be a lot more helpful. **** The study, by Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., **** "Profit-seeking firms beat most of the government to the scene and provided more effectively the supplies needed for the immediate survival of a population cut off from life's most basic necessities," Horwitz wrote in the study, which was published by the Mercatus...

Who did the most to help victims of Hurricane Katrina? According to a new study, it was the company everyone loves to hate.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government's humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world's poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said. USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations. That...

LONDON, Feb 28 (APP) :The United Kingdom has airlifted aid worth 1.5 million pounds (US $ 3 million) to support international relief efforts for the growing humanitarian crisis in the Central Asian State of Tajikistan hit by the severe wintry conditions and energy crisis. The funding will help provide essential items and services for those at risk by the severe winter temperatures and the energy crisis facing the country, the UK’s International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander said on Thursday. He said the Department for International Development (DFID) has organised two separate emergency airlifts to transport vital supplies including blankets, baby...

(BEIJING) -- Disaster-relief materials valuing about 820,000 U.S. dollars, provided by the defense department of the United States of America for freezing-disaster affected areas of China, arrived in Shanghai Friday. Qian Lihua, head of the foreign affairs office of China's National Defense Ministry, expressed appreciations of the Chinese side for the U.S. emergency humanitarian assistance, which includes 6,000 winter coats, 1,657 blankets and 87,552 military food ration packs. He said these materials will help people in the disaster-stricken areas and promote the friendship between the two peoples and the two armed forces. The Chinese armed forces will continue to strengthen...

1/15/2008 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- Airmen of the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron here airdropped nearly 80,000 pounds of food and water through the Afghan sky Jan. 14 as part of humanitarian efforts in the region. The supplies were pushed out the backdoor of a C-17 Globemaster III and the cargo landed at the feet of forward-deployed troops operating in Afghanistan's mountainous, snow-covered terrain. Soldiers on the ground will share much of the food and water with Afghan people in the area as part of U.S.-led efforts to stabilize the country and bring democracy to the region. "I think the...

New efforts to tackle the worsening humanitarian situation in Kenya are to begin soon with a UN shipment of food. The 666 tonnes on trucks from the port of Mombasa will try to tackle shortages caused by post-election violence. President Mwai Kibaki, who won polls the opposition says were rigged, has said he is willing to form a government of national unity to ease the crisis. Diplomatic moves are being stepped up, with planned mediation by a US envoy and the African Union chairman. More than 350 people have been killed in Kenya and 250,000 made homeless in violence since...

U.S. sailors and Marines on a humanitarian mission to Bangladesh are being met with extreme gratitude as they work to prevent and treat waterborne illnesses and meet basic needs in the aftermath of a Nov. 15 cyclone, a U.S. commander there said today. “With all of our deliveries, we’ve been greeted warmly and with gratitude by the Bangladesh people,” Rear Adm. Carol M. Pottenger, commander of Navy Task Force 76, said in a news briefing broadcast from the USS Kearsarge. Upon receiving medical treatment, one local man told American troops, “In the eyes of my village, you are the face...

haka, Nov 24 - Several hundred activists of the radical Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir staged protests here before the arrival of two ships of the US Navy for distributing relief supplies among cyclone-affected people. Two warships, USS Essex and USS Kearsarge -- each carrying 20 helicopters and 3,500 marines on board with emergency relief supplies, medical and emergency evacuation teams -- are scheduled to enter Bangladesh waters Saturday and Tuesday. The protesters Friday carried a banner reading 'Prevent American ships from entering the Bay of Bengal in the name of distributing relief' and chanted slogans 'Go back to America'...

Pisco, Peru, is a scene of ruins, dust, grief and desperation in the wake of the nation's devastating earthquake. Cleanup and healing are under way, however. PISCO, Peru — Carlos Ayo was given a single day to hope. Perhaps, he told himself, his 16-year-old daughter, Carla, wasn't inside her dance academy when Peru's largest quake in almost four decades began shaking this coastal community. Maybe the girl had escaped the broken building and was looking for her parents, knowing they'd be desperate. Searching for her. Then Carla's body was found and another name was added to a death list that...

News Release Canada Sends New C-17 to Jamaica with Supplies for the Victims of Hurricane Dean 2007-16 - August 23, 2007 TRENTON — Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda and Minister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Peter Gordon MacKay were in Trenton today to oversee loading of relief items in Canada’s new C-17 for hurricane-affected communities in Jamaica. "By using our new C-17, Canada’s New Government is responding today to the humanitarian emergency in Jamaica with a large shipment of emergency aid supplies," said Minister Oda. "The 32 tons of supplies, such as tarps,...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Investigations into a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-air, foiled by British, Pakistani and U.S. security agencies a week ago, have focused on the possible financing role played by Islamic charities. Suspicion has fallen on two Pakistani charities said to be linked to banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad and its affiliate Jamaat-ul-Furqa, according to Pakistani intelligence officials who say a string of arrests were made in the past week. In particular, authorities are investigating donations made from abroad "We are looking into the activities of al-Rasheed Trust and al Asar Trust because there are some questions...

Pakistan’s Daily Times ( a paper that’s been known to publish jihadi screeds) reports that an Islamic “charity” organization transferred “a huge amount” of money to the UK terror plotters—and called it “earthquake relief:” ‘Quake money’ used to finance UK plane bombing plot. KARACHI: A UK-based Islamic charity organisation remitted a huge amount of money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in December last year with the sole purpose of helping its recipients and their organisations carry out the aircraft bombing plan in the UK, insider sources told Daily Times yesterday. An investigation carried...

‘Quake money’ used to finance UK plane bombing plot * Funds given to two British citizens of Kashmiri origin and an Islamabad-based Kashmiri builder * ‘Earthquake relief’ money remitted to individuals alarmed British agenciesBy Sarfaraz Ahmed and Maqbool Ahmed KARACHI: A UK-based Islamic charity organisation remitted a huge amount of money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in December last year with the sole purpose of helping its recipients and their organisations carry out the aircraft bombing plan in the UK, insider sources told Daily Times yesterday. An investigation carried out by Daily Times...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006 – As demand for evacuation drops, Defense Department units will deliver more humanitarian assistance to beleaguered Lebanon, a senior defense official said today. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said DoD has evacuated 11,913 American citizens from Lebanon since the operation began July 16. He said officials anticipate evacuating another 1,200 from Lebanon today, but that demand for evacuation seems to have peaked. The operation is not over, Whitman said, "but we are coming close to completing the assisted departure operations. We are going to be shifting our emphasis to a humanitarian effort." He said two ships --...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP): Malaysia said Saturday it will send a search team and medical supplies to neighboring Indonesia where a powerful earthquake flattened buildings, killing at least 2,500 people and injuring thousands more. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said a 56-member team from Malaysia's disaster relief agency, five doctors and several paramedics will leave Saturday night for Yogyakarta on board an air force plane. "The medical team will bring with them one ton of medicine and other essentials like blankets to be distributed to the victims,'' he was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. The magnitude...

When the U.N.'s Jan Egeland called the U.S. "stingy" with foreign aid a couple of years back, he was playing to a stereotype promoted by those who want governments to redistribute global incomes. He was also wrong, and now we have the data to prove it. The Hudson Institute recently released the 2006 Index of Global Philanthropy, the first comprehensive report on international aid by private institutions and individuals in the U.S. The index shows that millions of Americans give to the world's poor at a rate that is anything but "stingy." Voluntary giving by Americans dwarfs government aid the...

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has decided to parcel out over a seven-year period the $14.4 million remaining from a record-setting burst of generosity by Presbyterians despite some complaints by hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast states that the denomination has been slow to respond to their needs. The decision to adopt a seven-year plan was made during a recent meeting of PDA's advisory board. The denomination raised $23 million in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. About 70 percent of the contributions were made within 90 days after the storms. Donors were not informed that the distribution of their gifts...

WASHINGTON - Setting aside political differences, the United States offered Iran temporary shelter to house up to 100,000 earthquake victims, the State Department said Friday. The offer came after President Bush said in Cancun, Mexico, that the administration was willing to send assistance despite the differences with Iran's Islamic government on its nuclear program and other issues. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns telephoned Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. In addition to shelter, the offer includes blankets, plastic sheeting, hygienic goods and water units, Ereli said. As part of the package, $150,000 in cash...

Scandinavian humanitarian organizations are pulling the plug on aid to victims of last year's devastating tsunami and earthquake disasters, saying the safety of their relief workers has been jeopardized by Muslim rioters protesting cartoons depicting Mohammed. The Red Cross, Norwegian Peoples Aid, Norwegian Church Aid and the Norwegian Refugee Council announced Thursday that they will be suspending aid projects in Indonesia and Pakistan, reports the Norwegian Broadcasting network [NRK]. Danish aid organizations have also announced they are halting relief operations in some Muslim nations. "It is tragic that this has come in the way, but we must first and foremost...

BILOXI, Miss. With drywall, two-by-fours and a patient faith in a sometimes-exasperating God, Burke resident Bart Tucker is trying to raise a small neighborhood from the dead. But in this Gulf Coast City of 50,000, a slender thumb of land smashed by the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina, nothing comes easy -- least of all miracles. Since arriving in Biloxi with a convoy of supplies and volunteers from his fairfax County church, Lord of Life Lutheran, shortly after Labor Day, Tucker hs spent a total of eight weeks here. He goes home only to raise more money and recruit...

UNICEF seeks $A1.08bn in aidFrom: Reuters From correspondents in Geneva January 24, 2006 THE United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) appealed today for $US805 million ($A1.08 billion) to provide aid to millions of children and their mothers caught up in 29 emergencies worldwide. More than one-third of the total sought from donors for this year, $US331 million ($442.45 million), is for Sudan, where the survival of 1.4 million children in Darfur alone is threatened by conflict, it said. "I would stress that the $US805 million ($1.08 billion) is enough to cope, to meet the minimum requirements of these children. It's not...

Congress Should Investigate the United Nations Tsunami Relief Effort This week marks the anniversary of the tsunami disaster which struck large sections of Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa on December 26, 2004. The tsunami claimed some 231,000 lives and displaced 2 million people. The disaster prompted an outpouring of humanitarian help from around the world, with an estimated total of $13.6 billion in aid pledged, including $6.16 billion in government assistance, $2.3 billion from international financial institutions, and $5.1 billion from individuals and companies.[1] The huge international relief effort is being co-coordinated by the United Nations, and involves...

A recent investigation by the Financial Times, however, has raised serious questions regarding the U.N.’s handling of the tsunami relief effort, in particular the way in which it has spent the first $590 million of its $1.1 billion disaster “flash appeal.”

Hey gang, This may have been brought up here before and some how I missed it, but can anyone tell me %wise of how much of the promised tsunami relief aid -- esp. the cash money --was actually delivered? A ballpark figure is all I'm looking for. Regards, --YD

Time did well in selecting Bono plus Bill and Melinda Gates as its charitable Persons of the Year, but I wish it had also put a non-celebrity -- maybe a volunteer Katrina relief worker -- on its cover. It would have been good to honor one of the 9,000 Southern Baptists from 41 states who volunteered 120,000 days during the two months after the hurricane hit. During that time, they served 10 million meals and pushed forward cleanup and recovery efforts. Or how about someone from the Salvation Army: Those folks served nearly 5 million hot meals and over 6.5...

Associated Press Correspondent Denis Gray was aboard the first U.S. helicopters that rushed aid to survivors of last year's tsunami in Indonesia. He recently revisited the same devastated coastline communities. Gray also covered the earthquake in Pakistan. --- LAMPUUK, Indonesia -- There aren't many places in the Islamic world these days where they name streets after American presidents, past or present. But through the tsunami-devastated heart of this village, embedded in a highly conservative Muslim society, runs George Bush and Bill Clinton Road. "We are one big family and those who help us are our brothers. So Americans are our...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia : The image of the United States in tsunami-hit parts of Asia may have enjoyed a boost thanks to its massive aid donations, but one year on, residents say US policy speaks louder than dollars. The US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Washington's pro-Israeli stance, have incensed Muslims across the region, and no amount of aid -- even in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia -- has soothed their anger. "I don't like the leader of the American people. I don't mind the people, I just don't like their leader," says Yan, a 35-year-old Acehnese dried fish trader who...

In large Red Cross shelters, where most volunteers were white, the mostly minority evacuees "felt like they were being herded like cattle," said Rev. Anthony Evans of the National Black Church Initiative. In the aftermath of the storms, minority evacuees said they encountered many problems in Red Cross shelters. Evacuees who spoke little or no English -- Hispanic and Asian immigrants along the Gulf Coast, as well as French-speaking members of the Houma United Nation tribe in Louisiana -- struggled to make themselves understood because there were so few translators. Some minority groups complained that shelters were set up in...

WAVELAND, Miss. -- Days after Hurricane Katrina hit, they began cooking together in a grocery store parking lot : evangelical Christians from Texas and Rainbow Family flower children from all over. Soon they were serving 1,000 free meals a day at their cafe, housed in a domed tent. Side by side, this improbable alliance worked nonstop, helping the people of what was once a scenic beach town. Gradually, barriers melted. The evangelicals overlooked the hippies' unusual attire, outlandish humor and persistent habit of hugging total strangers. The hippies nodded politely when the church people cited Scripture. The bonds formed at...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — France has offered to fly over some of the city's musicians and provide them with rent-free residences and monthly stipends for up to three months, in hopes of compensating for concerts canceled after Hurricane Katrina. Major French museums — including the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and the Centre Pompidou — also intend to help the New Orleans Museum of Art put on an exhibit of major French artists, probably in 2007. It's all part a French effort to help residents of Louisiana, which has retained strong cultural ties to France since Napoleon sold the territory to...

Iraq's Red Crescent relief organization found its own way to mark the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday by announcing that it had sent a $1 million "thank you" donation to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The sum, transferred by wire on Sunday, amounts to 20 percent of the organization's annual budget. "I wish we could have a billion dollars to give," Said Hakki, the organization's president, said by telephone from Baghdad. "Even then, it is not enough to show our appreciation for what the U.S. has done for Iraq and is still doing." The donation was made with the approval of the...